Central Oklahoma Turning Point

Initiatives »Turning Point

United Way of Central Oklahoma is working diligently as a community collaborator to lead TURNING POINT: an initiative to improve the health of Oklahomans. Turning Point will increase the number and diversity of community links that can collaboratively help the health of the public AND increase the usefulness of health status information.

As concluded in The State of the State’s Health reports, Oklahoma has the unfortunate distinction of being above national rates for infectious diseases, death rates, teenage births and smoking. This means that Oklahoma citizens are overburdened with disability and unnecessary death.

Poor health outcomes have a direct impact on the Oklahoma economy. Businesses experience employee absenteeism, health organizations experience greater demand for limited resources, families experience higher costs for health insurance.

These are the alarming statistics behind United Way’s call to action:

Nicotine, alcohol and calorie addictions account for 1/3 of Oklahoma’s disabilities.
27% of first graders and 61% of fifth graders report having less than one hour of daily physical activity (PE class is not required in Oklahoma schools).
One in three deaths in Oklahoma is caused by heart disease.
43% of Oklahoma teenagers smoke.
For those Oklahomans who smoke, they smoke more than the rest of the nation, purchasing 109 packs of cigarettes each year, compared to the national average of 85 packs a year.
Leading disabilities for men:
1. heart disease
2. road traffic accidents
3. lung cancer
4. AIDS
5. alcohol
Leading disabilities for women:
1. heart disease
2. depression
3. stroke
4. lung cancer
5. osteoarthritis
Over the past decade, the percentage of Oklahomans overweight has steadily increased to 20% in 2001. Obesity is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and other chronic diseases.